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Cream Puffs

Cream puffs are choux pastry shells filled with custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cream Puffs

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the choux paste

  1. Combine ½ pint of boiling water and 2 ounces of butter in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.

  2. Add ½ pint of flour quickly. Stir rapidly until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan.

  3. Remove the saucepan from heat. Add 1 whole egg and beat until smooth.

  4. Add another egg and repeat until all 4 eggs are incorporated.

  5. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto greased baking pans.

  6. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 30 minutes.

Make the custard

  1. Heat ½ pint of milk in a double boiler for the filling.

  2. Beat 4 eggs, 4 tablespoons of sugar, and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch together in a bowl.

  3. Stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk and stir constantly until the mixture thickens.

  4. Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

  5. Let the custard cool.

Fill and finish

  1. Once the shells and filling are cool, open the shells on one side.

  2. Fill the shells with the custard.

  3. Optionally dust with powdered sugar.

  4. Optionally coat with sweet chocolate.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Starch that gelatinises with the eggs and water to form the puffs' structure.
Eggs
Provide structure and leavening through steam, and set the custard filling.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the paste, softening the shells' texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard so it holds its shape when filled.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard filling.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard filling and helps it stay tender.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard constantly. Egg and starch mixtures can scorch or lump on contact with hot milk. Constant stirring keeps heat even so the cornstarch thickens smoothly without the eggs curdling.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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